Residents watch the premiere of "Kony 2012", a 30-minute YouTube film created by the nonprofit group Invisible Children, in Lira district located 376 km (234 miles) north of Uganda's capital Kampala March 13, 2012. Lira was one of the areas that was ravaged by 20 years of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebellion. Picture taken March 13, 2012. (JAMES AKENA/REUTERS/JAMES AKENA/REUTERS)

Residents watch the premiere of "Kony 2012", a 30-minute YouTube film created by the nonprofit group Invisible Children, in Lira district located 376 km (234 miles) north of Uganda's capital Kampala March 13, 2012. Lira was one of the areas that was ravaged by 20 years of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebellion. Picture taken March 13, 2012.(JAMES AKENA/REUTERS/JAMES AKENA/REUTERS)

Uganda’s government has taken to the Internet to correct a “false impression” about the country it says was created by a U.S. celebrity-backed online campaign to hunt down fugitive warlord Joseph Kony.

Uganda, which is spearheading efforts to find the suspected war criminial whose global profile soared after a YouTube video went viral, wants to show the world Mr. Kony is not in the country and it is doing all it can to find him.

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Jason Russell, co-founder of non-profit Invisible Children and director of "Kony 2012" viral video campaign, poses in New York, March 9, 2012. Russell has been hospitalized in California for exhaustion following an "unfortunate incident" that his group said on March 16, 2012 stemmed from the emotional toll of recent weeks. Russell, who directed the viral video that calls for the arrest of Joseph Kony, the fugitive rebel leader of Lord's Resistance Army militia group in Uganda, has said the video was only meant as a kick-starter to a complicated issue.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters

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Wanted by the International Criminal Court, Mr. Kony is accused of abducting children to use as fighters and sex slaves and is said to have a fondness for hacking off limbs.

After founding his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the 1980s, Mr. Kony terrorized large parts of Uganda but his reign of terror has subsided since 2005 and he is now believed to command only a few hundred followers, scattered in remote jungle hideouts in neighbouring countries.

“The Kony 2012 campaign fails to make one crucial point clear. Joseph Kony is not in Uganda,” Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi said in a 9-minute
video posted on YouTube.

“Uganda is not in conflict. Uganda is a modern, developing country which enjoys peace, stability and security,” he said, insisting that the Kony 2012 video did not represent the current situation in the east African nation.

The video made by California-based film-maker Jason Russell has been viewed by tens of millions of people, promoted on Twitter with tags that include #Kony2012 and endorsed by the likes of Justin Bieber, George Clooney and Oprah Winfrey.

Mr. Russell, co-founder of the group Invisible Children, was hospitalized on Thursday for “exhaustion, dehydration and malnutrition,” stemming from the emotional toll of recent weeks, the group said.

San Diego police said they had detained a man “acting bizarrely, running into traffic” and took him to hospital.

Mr. Russell’s video became an Internet sensation, racking up nearly 80 million hits on YouTube and raising global awareness about atrocities committed by the LRA, including kidnapping children and forcing them to fight.

Mr. Mbabazi said Uganda was on Mr. Kony’s trail. “You may all be assured that the Government of Uganda is acutely aware of the grievous damage which has been caused to our people by Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army. We do not need a slick video on YouTube for us to take notice.”

Mr. Mbabazi has also taken to Twitter to invite the celebrities targeted by Invisible Children in its video to spread awareness about Mr. Kony to come to Uganda and see the country for themselves.

“As PM of Uganda, I invite you to visit the Pearl of Africa & see the peace that exists in our wonderful country,” he wrote in tweets to celebrities, including Ryan Seacrest, Taylor Swift and Warren Buffett using the tag #KonyisntinUganda.

Announcing the creation of a four-nation military force to step up the hunt for Mr. Kony on Friday, Uganda’s defence minister said the LRA had been reduced to a force of between 200 and 250 fighters split up into groups of about 10 and 20 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.